Page 82 of Cold Silence
“The abduction? No.”
“But you had something to do with the theft.”
She cringed but said nothing.
Travis advanced on her, giving her a look guaranteed to break even the most reluctant subject in one of his interrogations. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell me everything.”
“I stole the prototype,” she admitted, shrinking back in her chair. “But not to sell it—honest!”
He bought her answer, but should he? “Then why?”
“I’m tired of living in Claire’s shadow, okay.” She sat up, her shoulders and chin lifted. “Always being second in charge when I’m just as qualified. I wanted to take Claire down a peg. Let the people in charge of the institute look to me for once. When Eric suggested stealing the prototype to make her look bad, I went for it.”
Travis gaped at her. “And you let your boyfriend attack her?”
She shot up a hand. “No…no…wait. I didn’t know he was behind the attacks. You have to believe me. I honestly thought someone was stalking her.” She wrung her hands. “I even talked to Eric, and he promised he wasn’t the one responsible.”
“And just like that you believed him?”
“Claire said you had no proof of who attacked her, so I thought you’d made a mistake by thinking it was related to the prototype theft.”
“Good point, but with two cars involved in this abduction, he’s obviously working with someone.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Travis took a breath to clear his brain and process before moving on. “How does Warren White fit in with this?”
“Warren?” Julie scrunched her eyes. “He’s not involved.”
“He is.”
She blinked rapidly. “Are you sure?”
“We caught him today with the prototype and software on his laptop.” Travis held her gaze. “He’s already behind bars.”
“No wonder,” she whispered.
“No wonder what?” Travis asked.
She clutched her hands together and cowered in her chair.
Travis moved closer to her. “Tell me, Julie. Claire’s life could depend on it.”
“Tonight,” she said. “Eric asked to meet me here. So I did. Then he said wouldn’t it be great if we took the other prototype too. To bring the program to a complete stop. Then they would have to fire Claire, and I would get the job.”
“So you let him take it?” Travis had to work hard not to shout at her.
She nodded. “I don’t know why he gave the other one to Warren, but maybe Warren was in on this the whole time. He and Eric met at a work party and have gone out for drinks a few times to compare work notes.”
“Seems like Eric kept a lot from you.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it does.” She frowned.
“You didn’t send the text to get Claire over here, did you?” Travis asked as his thoughts cleared, and he started to process his next steps.
“I didn’t text her.” Julie dug out her phone and stared at the screen, tears forming in her eyes. “I can’t believe it. Eric must’ve sent the text when I was in the bathroom.”
She paused for a moment and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “Maybe I should’ve seen the signs. He’s having financial issues. He comes from a very wealthy family and is used to having the finest things in life. He’s well paid, but he spends it all and more. His parents could help him, but they refuse.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I didn’t know he was this desperate. I just didn’t know.”
